The Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) machines in the DREAMS lab are low-temperature processing system. The low temperature machines are designed for direct processing of polymers and indirect processing of metal or ceramics, but are incapable of directly processing metals and ceramics. These machines feature CO2 lasers and nitrogen atmosphere and they are optimized for polymer materials processing such as nylon polyamide.

DTM Sinterstation 2500 Plus

Technology Overview

Strength: Since the laser is actually melting the powder together, the part is very strong.

Detailed Features:Very detailed features can be created because the laser point is very small.

Powder Bed Provides Support Structure:Unlike non-powder-based processes, SLS uses the powder that surrounds the part to support over-hanging features instead of having to build and later remove support structure.

Simple Post-Processing: When the part is made, the user merely retrieves it from the powder bed and brushes off any remaining powder.

Recyclability: All leftover powder in the build chamber can be reused in the next build.

Selective laser sintering (SLS) is an Additive Manufacturing (AM) technique which uses lasers as its power source to sinter powdered material into a mass that has a desired three-dimensional shape. The laser selectively fuses powdered material by scanning cross-sections generated from a 3D model of the part on the surface of a powder bed. After each cross-section is scanned, the powder bed is lowered by one layer thickness, a new layer of material is applied on top, and the process is repeated until the part is completed.